


Engineering Love

by Kamh



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, College Student Castiel, College Student Dean, Engineer Dean, F/F, Fluff and Humor, Librarian Castiel, M/M, Protective Dean Winchester
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-08
Updated: 2016-06-08
Packaged: 2018-07-13 00:59:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7131650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kamh/pseuds/Kamh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel is a sophomore at KU studying library science and working at the Engineering library where he meets the charming, sweet, and protective Dean Winchester. A mutual pining ensues that requires a little push from a feisty but well-meaning red head. Sweet and fluffy!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Engineering Love

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Hope you enjoy and let me know of any feelings or suggestions in the comments! :) <3

Castiel adores books. He loves the weight of them, the sound of the spine cracking just like his does first thing in the morning, the smell of freshly printed pages and binding glue. He loves the knowledge and adventure they provide, the sense of wonder they give him, and their ability to completely take him away to far off places, so lost in the story that he can’t even sense the real world around him. That’s why he is in college, studying to be a librarian. Cas wants to nurture the incredible power that books hold and share that knowledge and power with other people that care as much as he does. Dean Winchester was not one of those people.

Castiel is a sophomore at KU and works part time at the Engineering library. Partially because he wants the experience working alongside real librarians and other students and partially because he likes the extra money. When he applied, he had just wanted to work in the main library, to get a sense of how a massive university academic library system worked, but the only position available was in the annex Engineering library. 

In Cas’ experience the engineering students all came in similar flavors. The frantic overstressed senior, the sweet and dedicated worker bee, the scary kid that takes out 30+ books and brings them all back overdue, and Cas’ least favorite, the obnoxious groups that act like children.

It was a Thursday night around 6 and Cas was working until closing. Most Thursday nights were pretty quiet, many students opted for celebrating ‘Thirsty Thursday’ instead of hanging out in the annex libraries pocketed all around campus, but tonight was different because it was midterm week, which meant everyone was losing their shit. The library was packed, and Cas had to work by himself until 10 when another student would come in to help him close the last hour. So he had to man the phones, run the circulation desk, shelve the books being returned, and study for his humanities exam the next day. Needless to say when his least favorite obnoxious gang came strolling in, he was not happy about it. They waltzed in with their mostly empty backpacks and their devil-may-care attitudes, because as long as they passed it didn’t matter what their grades were because their corporate parents would be the ones hiring them anyway.

Alastair was the alpha dog of their pack and always demanded Castiel’s attention at the most inconvenient times. He strolled up with his slimy grin and his posse of creeps followed, they all loomed over the desk at Cas. Jack who they called by his last name ‘Azazel’, Ruby, and Lilith. 

“Don’t you ever leave this library, kid?” Alastair sneered at Castiel.

“Is there something I can help you with?” Cas inquired through clenched teeth.

“We need to book one of the study rooms in the back and we each need a copy of the four books on reserve for Fluid Dynamics,” Alastair demanded.

“Unfortunately we’re really busy because of midterms so the rooms are booked up until tomorrow morning, and I only have a single copy of those books because they’re so popular, but I can get you what we have,” Cas attempted.

Alastair’s face fell, “I should have expected as much from a worthless librarian.” Azazel didn’t even try to conceal his snort and Lilith giggled loudly at his expense. “We’ll take ourselves somewhere where the minions are more competent.”

“Good luck with that,” Cas mumbled as they stalked off. 

Cas had just sat down for the first time to begin reviewing the notes for his midterm when someone approached the counter. Cas begrudgingly put down his color-coded study guide and looked up reciting, “Can I help you?” When he saw him. 

“Heya Cas,” Dean smiled, tight fitting green henley making his eyes shine.

“Hello Dean,” Cas greeted, giving his first genuine smile of the evening.

“Well those are impressive,” Dean gestured toward Cas’ notes, “which midterm are you studying for?”

“My humanities course, War and Adventure in Ancient Ethic, its difficult but quite fascinating,” Cas answered, flattered that Dean actually took the time to remember his name and treat him like a real person, a friend even, when most people barely acknowledged his existence. “Which exam are you preparing for?”

Dean listened to Cas intently, as if they were just friends catching up. “Just the Thermodynamics test, it shouldn’t be too bad,” he said, waving it away. “Nothing Adventuresome or Epic about it,” he laughed. 

Cas retrieved the textbook for Dean quickly, scanning it out and handing it to him. “I’m sure that you’ll do great on it, Dean.” 

Dean smiled and blushed slightly looking away, “Thanks Cas.”

Not long after, another student worker Charlie showed up to help Cas close. 

“Well somebody looks pretty happy for the closing midterm shift!” Charlie called jovially as she entered, her red hair bouncing as she walked toward him.

“More like dazed and exhausted,” Cas replied.

“Well never fear, the caffeine fairy is here,” she sang, plopping a large espresso down in front of him.

“Charlie, you’re my hero,” Cas thanked, sipping gratefully.

“As I should be, I had to flirt pretty hardcore to get Jo the cute barista to make that before they closed,” she disclosed.

“Jo still hasn’t given you her number yet? I thought you said you were made for each other.”

“We are made for each other, Cas. I’m just taking my time, easing into my courtship.”

Cas snorted, “Well you better court quickly, I hear Victor has a thing for her.”

“Victor?!” Charlie exclaimed, “the Justice Studies kid? There’s no way!” she immediately pulled out her laptop to dig up some dirt when Dean approached the desk.

“Hey Charlie, how’s my favorite computer nerd doing?”

“Not bad Winchester, can I get you something?”

“Oh no, I’m all set, just returning a book, and then I’m on my way out,” he explained, setting it on the counter.

Cas rose from his chair to check it back in and Dean nodded to him, “Night Cas, good luck on your Epic War test tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Dean. Have a good evening,” he replied, gazing at the winning smile Dean graced him with on his way out.

“Whew, speaking of easing into a courtship, do you two need an invitation or what?!” Charlie huffed.

Cas rolled his eyes, “I don’t know what you’re referring to.”

“Oh come ON Cas! You two are so in love it hurts my face.”

“How could-“ Cas began.

“It doesn’t actually hurt me, mister literal, I just mean that I can’t take the flirting and blushing and making eyes at each other anymore, one of you has got to go for it!” she encouraged.

“Who said I was even interested in Dean romantically? I just merely enjoy that he treats us as friends and not ‘minions’. Besides, I’m pretty sure he’s straight.”

“He’s as straight as a circle Cas, trust me.”

“Huh,” was all Cas could come up with, he’d always had a small crush on Dean, he was sweet and smart and gorgeous, how could Cas not? But he hadn’t considered the idea that Dean was actually interested in him. 

“Just promise me you’ll think about it, Cas, I think you could make each other very happy,” she winked.

“Fine, I’ll think about it,” Cas conceded while they began the library closing procedures.

* * * * * *

A week later, after the midterms rush, there was a nice calm falling over the libraries. There was still homework to be done and textbooks to be read, but the rhythm of people was more relaxed and steady. Cas was thrilled to be done with all the tests, and he preferred to do his homework on his own time so he could focus, which gave him the opportunity to read for fun when he had some downtime. He was just getting into the story when a student approached the desk.

“Hey Cas,” Dean greeted warmly, easy smile growing on his face as he leaned into the counter.

“Hello Dean, how are your studies going?” Cas ran his fingers through his ruffled hair as he stood up.

“Not bad, I just try to get all my homework done before I leave campus,” Dean explained.

“You don’t dorm here?” Cas asked, curiously.

“No, I commute, and I gotta look out for my kid brother at home so I try to get it out of the way.” Dean looked down at his hands as though he wasn’t used to talking about himself this openly.

“That’s very noble of you Dean, how old is your brother?”

“Sammy’s 14, he’s a genius,” Dean perked up considerably, practically glowing with pride.

Cas smiled and opened his mouth to ask more when he heard an annoyed “Huh-hmm” throat clearing sound from his right. “If you two homos wouldn’t mind flirting some other time, we actually need something,” Alastair insulted.

Cas blushed and was filled with guilt for not doing his job, he was halfway through an apology when Dean stood up to full height and eyed the group with a menacing gaze.

“First of all, Asshole. This may be Kansas, but its 2016, gay is in and homophobia is out. Second of all, Cas is an outstanding human being who is nice enough to deal with your bullshit, but I’m not. Treat him with respect or your 1.0 GPA will be the least of your problems.”

Cas was completely stunned but also had to fight the very strong urge to cheer. He couldn’t even pretend to hide his smirk when the group looked both embarrassed and outraged at Dean’s threat. 

Alastair countered, “If you think we’d be afraid of a mousey little book boy and a dirt poor orphan, think again Winchester.” As they stalked off Azazel high-fived him with a snickering, “Nice one, Al!”

Castiel was both glowing with joy that Dean had defended him and had not been offended that they were assumed to be flirting with each other, and mortified that the ordeal had taken place at all.

“Thank you, Dean. I’m sorry about all that,” Cas expressed.

Dean still looked slightly shaken at Alastair’s last comment, but gave a small smile anyway, “You’ve got nothing to be sorry for Cas, those jerks have no right to treat you that way.”

After getting Dean what he needed, and finishing his shift for the night, he immediately met Charlie at their favorite coffee shop on campus and recounted the entire tale to her. 

Charlie practically squealed with glee, “He defended your honor!”

Cas couldn’t help but chuckle at her enthusiasm, “But he seemed really upset at something Alastair called him, but I didn’t understand what it meant.”

Charlie’s eyes grew serious, “What did he call him?”

“Well, he called me a mousey book boy, but he called Dean a poor orphan,” Cas recounted, uncomfortable.

Charlie was surprisingly quiet, “Alastair is such a douche.” She shook her head, “I don’t know if Dean would want you to know, but I think you deserve some context. When Dean was little both of his parents died in a house fire, and now he lives with his Uncle and little brother. Dean got a lot of scholarships to come here, but he commutes and works at his Uncle’s Garage so that his little brother can go away to school.” 

Cas’ brain swam with all this new information, “That’s terrible about his parents, but working and going to school and taking care of his brother seems quite admirable, I don’t see why it’s something to be embarrassed about.”

“Well, most people don’t know, but Alastair’s Dad’s company is trying to buy Dean’s Uncle’s garage out and put in a chain mechanic place,” Charlie explained.

“That’s awful,” Cas’ heart ached for Dean. If his Uncle lost his garage, Dean may not be able to finish his degree, or be able to afford to send his brother to school. He may not even be able to live with his Uncle at all if they couldn’t get another job. “Alastair really is a douche.”

“Amen, dude.” Charlie clinked her coffee cup to his in solidarity, and rose to flirt her way into a refill from Jo.

* * * * * *

It was about a week later during their closing shift, and Charlie had just launched into a long-winded explanation about why Hermione Granger did not belong with Ron Weasley, when Dean approached the counter. 

“Charlie, Harry had to marry Ginny because he had to marry a red-head like his mother, its all about literary symmetry,” Dean chimed in, in lieu of a traditional greeting.

“Oh, so I suppose all the main characters are supposed to marry each other, god forbid we don’t mix it up a little, and don’t get me started on how Neville was treated,” she shot back.

Cas laughed at her exasperation, “Can I get you something, Dean?”

Dean’s eyes flickered away from Cas’ for a moment, “Actually I was hoping to talk to you for a sec, Cas.”

“Of course, Dean” Cas nodded, nerves beginning to bubble in his lower abdomen.

“I gotta check upstairs anyway, take your time bitches!” Charlie announced as she hopped off her chair and sauntered to the staircase. 

Dean let out a huff of laughter that seemed to ease away some of the tension he was carrying. 

“Dean, is everything alright?” Cas prompted.

“Definitely Cas! I just wanted to ah-“ Dean grabbed a pen off of the desk and a scrap of paper and began writing. Cas gazed at him confusingly until he finished and slid it over the desk. “I wanted to give you my number and see if you wanted to get coffee sometime, maybe,” he rushed out in one long breath, blush rising in his cheeks.

Cas smiled, ripped the paper in half and wrote his own number down, sliding it back to Dean, “I would love that, Dean.” 

They had just began suggesting times to meet when they heard Charlie cheering and jumping up and down with glee from the overhang of the second floor,

“FINALLY!”


End file.
